Emporer Advice

j_wedd · January 20, 2004, 06:35

Greeting Civ community,

Preferred set up is :
Civ 3 - PTW, huge world, Emporer level, pangaea, 5-8 rival civs, often play as English.

I have just won on Emporer (space race) 6720pts.

However, I have never used "monachy". I know how it differs from republic by checking civilopaedia, but could someone out there give me some pointers for gaining strategic advantage using this style of government.

I found that I was always lagging behind considerably in the tech race. Only goody huts kept me close to the others in the early game. So in the end opted for reducing my science slider and trading / buying tech from friendly rivals. Any other ideas concerning staying up in the tech race would be appreciated.

Always being behind on tech led to many problems. Worst of all was getting to wonders to late, I didn't even attempt wonder building until ToE, I went nuts get this and finally moved to first place in the tech race. Any tips on how to get early wonders, please reply.

Should I aim to make some of my cities specific producers of e.g settlers, wonders or culture etc.

What does the "sentry " command do for military units.

Are some luxuries better than others, if so, how do they compare ?

Has anyone ever claimed to win this game on Diety level ?

Any other tips on keeping up with rivals on Emporer would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks in advance to the Civ community for your help.

David Murray · January 20, 2004, 07:23

j_wedd,

There is a thread with the words 'must read' at the top of the strategy forum index. Evidently you have not spotted this already and your attention is drawn to it:

http://apolyton.net/forums/showthrea...threadid=59216

vulture · January 20, 2004, 07:42

Quote:

Originally posted by j_wedd
However, I have never used "monachy". I know how it differs from republic by checking civilopaedia, but could someone out there give me some pointers for gaining strategic advantage using this style of government.

It's only really better than Republic if you are in a lot of wars, and war weariness if getting too much for you. I don't think I've ever had that much of a war weariness problem with republic though, to be honest. Aside from that, if you get while republic is still a long way off, it is worth it to avoid being in despotism, particularly for a religious civ.

Quote:

I found that I was always lagging behind considerably in the tech race. Only goody huts kept me close to the others in the early game. So in the end opted for reducing my science slider and trading / buying tech from friendly rivals. Any other ideas concerning staying up in the tech race would be appreciated.

Don't expect to do all your own research on Emperor or above, and don't worry too much about falling behind. Just get out early to make lots of contacts, research techs the AI tends to ignore, and trade wisely. You can keep up with the leaders throughout the ancient era and middle ages this way, and usually start to take a tech lead in the late middle ages or early industrial, depending on how you play and what the AIs have been up to. Playing as England (Commericial, Expansionist IIRC) you start with alphabet, which is good trade bait. Research writing immediately, and then go for literature (if you want to try for the great library) or code of laws / philosophy. Once you have contact with 3 or 4 civs, alphabet should be able to net you all of the first tier techs, and writing most of the second teir. Learn how to get the most from trading with the AI.

Quote:

Always being behind on tech led to many problems. Worst of all was getting to wonders to late, I didn't even attempt wonder building until ToE, I went nuts get this and finally moved to first place in the tech race. Any tips on how to get early wonders, please reply.

You'll be lucky to get one from the ancient era without the use of a great leader. Colossus is usually the easiest to get, and is more useful than you might suspect. Sounds like you need to learn how to use prebuilds. Once you can build the palace somewhere, you can set a city to build that, and then change it to a wonder once you get the tech for it. You should always be able to bag one of the early middle age wonders with this method (the good ones being Sun Tzu, Leonardos, Sistine and Bachs, all of which are worth getting).

Quote:

Should I aim to make some of my cities specific producers of e.g settlers, wonders or culture etc.

Specialisation is often good. Many players build specific settler / worker pumps. Cities that can produce settlers every 4 turns or workers every 2 turns are very valuable, and not that hard to get (see the 'Ducki does Emperor thread somewhere around here). Barracks cities that concentrate on military are worthwhile too.

Quote:

What does the "sentry " command do for military units.

Makes them do nothing until another unit come into view. They don't get any defensive bonus (you have to 'fortify' for that). There is an option in preferences for whether they wake up when a hostile unit comes into view or whether any unit will wake them.

Quote:

Are some luxuries better than others, if so, how do they compare ?

Nope, they are all the same. Once you have markets, they become more effective, but that just depends on how many different luxuries you have, not on what they are.

Quote:

Has anyone ever claimed to win this game on Diety level ?

I haven't, but plenty of people have (look out for the famous 'So very cold...' thread, where Aeson beats deity from an atrocious starting position.

Quote:

Any other tips on keeping up with rivals on Emporer would be greatly appreciated.

Go to the 'must read' threads, which is one of the first threads on the page. Any thread that has produced good advice tends to get listed in there, with a link to it. You can learn a lot about civ there.

j_wedd · January 20, 2004, 07:50

Thanks for your advice Vulture !!

vmxa1 · January 20, 2004, 15:38

I think Vulture covered it well. I would say that the game is bit harder nw with C3C. I beat deity at CivIII and PTW, but have only beaten Demi at C3C. I have not play a deity at C3C and just took a peek at Sid.

You should be able to get one ancient wonder if you plan for it, but it could fall apart if you have a poor start or bad luck (AI gets SGL and aces you).

You will need some sort of worker/troop pump and a settler one as well (often the capitol). Tight spacing as in some CxC and CxxC mixing. You will need enough troops after contact to not be the main target. This is what I got at Sid.

With you map and traits, you could actually be able to do well in tech hrough the first two tiers. After that they wil pull ahead for a
time. You will be able to stay close and pull back into the lead if you did a good job of getting cities down and infrastructure build.

Middle age wonders are very tricky, but you should be getting the race close at the industrial point and get some of these.

Aqualung71 · January 20, 2004, 23:11

Yep, ditto with Vulture and vmxa1. I'm nowhere near as experienced or skillful as they are, but I'll give you my 2 cents worth anyway....partly because I play mostly Emperor myself and I still remember the shock when I moved up! Emperor changes your game.

On Emperor you will generally be behind in techs and will find it difficult to get any wonders before the mid-middle ages or later. Sometimes keeping your slider at zero and buying your techs is the only option (and often the best option), so don't worry about having to do that. I'm sure you already know this, but good population growth is critical at the higher levels (making sure all worked tiles are roaded) in order to keep your research rate up.

Moving from Monarch to Emperor is a significant jump in difficulty (in PTW) due to the various bonuses and extra units the AI gets. I'm not sure yet where the big jump is in Conquests - I guess Demi-God.

I would also recommend you visit Mountain Sage's "Emperor Games C3C: How to improve your skills". MS has posted 2 starts there and a bunch of people played the first one and compared results. It's great for ideas on alternative strategies, and also can give you a much clearer picture of the practical effect of different strategies. For me it has highlighted my mediocre early game and set me thinking about how to improve my strategy. Of course, these are C3C games - not sure if you can play them using PTW, but perhaps you can.

Another useful Emperor thread is Ducki's "Ducki does C3C at emperor", which is along the same lines.

Using 5-8 rival civs on a huge map will give you lots of space and lots of time to settle towns before the AI crowds you out. On the other hand, you will be further away from the other civs and so it may take longer to contact them and start trading techs. I suggest adding a few civs - while in my view this will make the game harder, it will force you into good habits such as seeking out rival civs and trading more often.

Cheers!

Mountain Sage · January 21, 2004, 06:18

Quote:

Originally posted by Thriller

I would also recommend you visit Mountain Sage's "Emperor Games C3C: How to improve your skills". MS has posted 2 starts there and a bunch of people played the first one and compared results. It's great for ideas on alternative strategies, and also can give you a much clearer picture of the practical effect of different strategies. For me it has highlighted my mediocre early game and set me thinking about how to improve my strategy. Of course, these are C3C games - not sure if you can play them using PTW, but perhaps you can.

Just note that only my last game is C3C; all others are PTW. And don't forget that everybody can post a save of an Emperor game on 'my' thread. The more difficult, or let's say, unusual the game, the better. cool:

Aqualung71 · January 23, 2004, 02:07

Quote:

Originally posted by Mountain Sage

Just note that only my last game is C3C; all others are PTW.

Huh? The first game had the Sumerians next door, IIRC.

Mountain Sage · January 23, 2004, 04:39

Ah, I was thinking of my previous 'Emperor games' thread, it has about 10 PTW games. I will *bump* it for you and j_wedd. Even if you don't actually play the games, you will find some useful advices and can compare different playstyles, which is the whole purpose of these threads.

Aqualung71 · January 23, 2004, 05:23

Ah yes, I see it now. Thanks MS, I will certainly check it out and I'm sure I'll learn a thing or six!

Theseus · January 23, 2004, 21:55

I had the same reaction as Thriller... not enough civs on your map! Although that provides some breathing room in a certain respect, you'll learn a lot more and a lot faster if you just go with one or two less civs than the max.

All good tips above. The best one I can give, though: Post a save.